


Lost Boy (Girl)

by Shadow_Chaser



Series: In Blinded Skies [9]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Before the 6 month timeskip in Season 3 Episode 22 Ascension, But it also is a hypothetical start to Daisy's vigilantism, Except Matt's idea of helping Daisy involves percussive therapy, Gen, Matt and Daisy are good friends and good "siblings" to each other, Post-Episode: s03e22 Ascension, Post-Season 2 of Daredevil, Role reversal and mirror story to "Clad in the Skeletal Leaves and Vines of Guilt", The two are scary when teaming up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-06-09 23:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6928954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Chaser/pseuds/Shadow_Chaser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Post-Season 3, Episode 22: Ascension" reaction piece along with a hypothetical look at how Daisy might have started her vigilante career with a little help from the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.  This time, it's Daisy who needs a lot of hugs by the end of Season 3.  Follows "Clad in the Skeletal Leaves and the Vines of Guilt."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Somehow, Daisy was not surprised to find herself in front of the apartment door that belonged to Matt Murdock. Everything was still a blur to her as she raised a fist to knock, but hesitated. There were other places she could go, friends she had made along the way of years of being on her own. She could easily ask her fellow hack-tivists at the Rising Tide for help-

Daisy blinked as the sound of the door being unlocked was heard on the other side before it opened, revealing Matt's familiar form.

“You...look like shit,” she could not help the words that tumbled out of her mouth at the sight of her childhood friend. It was the truth, he did look like crap. There were some fading bruises on his arms from the tee-shirt he was wearing, and though he looked like he had moved fluidly, Daisy noted that he was sporting a minor limp of sorts and he seemed to favor his left side a little. His face was a mess of bandages and dark stitching and one spectacular bruise was not quite covered by his ruby-red glasses.

Matt only stared at her for a heartbeat before he grinned, making his split lip ooze a little in blood while his face muscles pulled at the newly healing bruises.

“So do you,” he replied as he stepped back and gestured for her to come in.

“...Yeah...” Daisy found the rest of her words sticking in her throat as she moved deeper into his apartment and tossed her backpack onto one of the loveseats. She unceremoniously flopped down onto the couch and kicked her feet up onto his coffee table. “The fight didn't swing your way?”

“Funny you should say that,” she watched as Matt wandered in, heading to his open kitchen with practiced ease and pulled out a mug and turn the water kettle to boil. “Spiked bat,” he gestured towards his face and body and Daisy winced in sympathy.

“I winced,” she stated before remembering that Matt could see all of her gestures with his unique disability, “but yeah, that's a new one.” Silence descended not even a second later and she felt like she had to say something. She opened her mouth and closed it as she looked around, her thoughts still in a whirl. It would be about the time Coulson would be realizing that she was not at the base anymore. She had been given her space, time to grieve, time alone to do whatever she wanted after...well....after what had happened on the _Zephyr_ and the quinjet. After Lincoln-

“Peppermint,” Matt's voice broke her out of her thoughts at the same time a steaming mug of water with a fancy looking teabag dunked into it was held in front of her face. She could instantly smell the mint leaves in it and took the mug, cupping it with both hands as she closed her eyes and breathed it in.

She still wanted to cry. And the peppermint smell was not helping. It reminded her too much of the fresh ozone smell she had come to associate with Lincoln and his powers. It smelled fresh, clean, almost like the aftertaste of mint in her mouth. But Matt would not know it...

“Thanks,” she murmured before quieting at the crack of her own voice at the end of the word. She sipped the tea instead, savoring the flavor and heard, along with felt the faint vibration of Matt moving away before the squeak of leather told her that he had more than likely sat down on the second loveseat opposite of the couch.

Or maybe he would know it she considered as she opened her eyes and stared at him from across the rim of her mug. He had discarded his glasses, rubbing his own face with a practiced hand of someone who was a little more than exhausted. But she could feel something in the air, something that told her that he associated peppermint to Lincoln's ozone.

“What gave it away?” she asked without any preamble.

Matt let his glasses hang with practiced ease on one hand as his sightless eyes stared at a point over her shoulder. But she knew that he was looking at her. “Your heartbeat,” he replied in his quiet frank manner, “it's heavy. Heavier than what's your normal. Plus, you hesitated before you knocked when I heard your heartbeat from outside. You also don't have the smell of ozone about you-”

Daisy barked out an involuntary laugh that felt like a cry at the same time before she suddenly sniffed, running a sleeve across her nose.

“It's not good...” his voice was soft with sorrow, but she could also hear the slight anger in it and had to smile sadly. She had not exactly taken his promise to her that if Lincoln had ever hurt her, he would beat him up, but she supposed that after what had happened to him, he was determined to do whatever it took to keep his friends safe.

“He's...Lincoln's...” Daisy swallowed against the painful lump that had rose up in her throat. “He's dead...”

Silence reigned in the living room, punctuated by the sounds of traffic, sirens, and pedestrians going about their daily business. Daisy shifted her fingers across the hot mug as she pulled her legs up and rested the mug on her knees. She rocked forward a little as she stared at nothing in particular.

“Do you need anything?” he asked and another involuntary sad smile flitted across her face at the quiet, but plaintive request. She was glad that Matt did not say 'I'm sorry' or any other platitude that she knew would not be false, but hollow at this point. She was also reminded of her own request to him during his time of grief and supposed it was why she had found herself in front of his door after leaving SHIELD.

“Absolution,” she whispered the smile disappearing just as fast as it had arrived, “just...” She fell silent again as she heard the phantom echo of Lincoln's final words to her, that he loved her, and that he was willing to sacrifice everything so that she did not have to pay for her sins, her mistakes. He had done that and had paid for it with his life. It had been hers to pay, it was her penance, and it _hurt_. Good God, it hurt so much that it felt like the knife she had tried to stab into Hive had instead stabbed into her.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice or feel Matt's presence until he placed a calloused hand on hers. She started a half second later and saw that the grip on her mug was so tight that her knuckles had turned white. She forced herself to relax her grip as he reached out and gathered her into his arms. She could hear his steady heartbeat as she felt him plant a gentle kiss on the top of her head and it was as if something broke in her much like when her partner Mack had done the same. Daisy felt tears rolling down her face as she sniffled and cried.

“It's okay Daisy,” she barely heard him over the sound of her own sobs, but she felt the vibration of his words. Much like he had held her nearly a year ago when they had taken down the Inhuman at the docks, she allowed himself a moment to just cry and be herself, the simple little girl that had grown up with Matt Murdock at St. Agnes Orphanage.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Daisy awoke at the faint vibrating change in the air and found herself wrapped up in the tangle of a very familiar scratchy woolen blanket. It was the same blanket she had complained to Matt to about the last time she had been here. Trust her friend to figure out a bit of levity to ease the pain for just a moment. However, that moment of levity was broken as she looked around to see what had woken her up at night. She spotted the faint outline of Matt in his Daredevil outfit ready to head up the stairs to the rooftop access of his apartment.

“Matt?” she called out and saw him turn back. The blood-red eyes of his cowl was still eerily menacing even though she knew her friend was underneath it. In the faint combination of moonlight and ambient city lights, she could still see the bruises that was across the bottom half of his face.

“Light recon,” he shrugged and made to leave before she pushed herself out of the scratchy woolen blanket.

“Bullshit,” she called out as she successfully extricated herself from the blanket cocoon and stood up. “I'm coming-”

“Daisy-”

“I'm coming,” she reiterated with a stubborn frown, “and unless you wanna fight me, you can't stop me.”

Matt stared at her, his lips turned down in a frown as he seemingly warred with something for a second before he nodded curtly.

“All right, but this is my turf,” he reluctantly agreed. She he gave him a grim smile as she reached over to her backpack and pulled out her gloves. It had been so long since Simmons had designed them to help her channel her powers that she felt a twinge of guilt for leaving that abruptly; without even a single goodbye to anyone else. Pushing the brief thought of remorse aside, she put them on and flexed her fingers a little, the movement second nature now.

“Playground bullies,” she retorted looking back up at Matt and saw him struggle for moment to not smile before he gave her a very crooked one. She could imagine him rolling his sightless eyes underneath his cowl as she gave a quick check of her gear and followed him up the stairs and to the roof.

The warm summer breeze ruffled through her hair and sent a slight shiver through her even though it was not cold. As she followed Matt to the edge of the rooftop, she saw him cant his head in a familiar pose, listening with his sharpened hearing. She stood back a few paces, letting him do his thing, hoping that her own changed heartbeat did not distract him. A few seconds later, he righted his head back up and gestured for her to follow him. He took the emergency stairwell down in twos and she followed, marveling at the acrobatics he was employing to cushion his own fall while she tried to match it as best as she could. Her training had included how to take a fall, but watching Matt and his agility was something else. She knew she could use her powers to cushion her falls, but she did not want to distract her friend with her power usage. He had already indicated twice that he had been affected by her usage of her earthquake inducing powers. It was more than likely due to the vibration and changes in the air which, naturally, affected his own sharpened senses that were also along the lines of vibrations and echolocation.

“What's the recon for?” she asked quietly as they stuck to the shadows of alleyways for a couple of blocks before Matt started to climb up to the roof of another building.

“Katie provided intel that the assault team that we thought was HYDRA might not be HYDRA at all. Someone called Watch Dogs...”

“Shit,” Daisy cursed. It made perfect sense and it was something she had suspected for a while now. She had originally thought that the ex-bratva Inhuman Petrov had been responsible for activating the tracker in Lincoln, but it had not made sense – especially since it seemed he had his own agenda separate from HYDRA. But if it was Watch Dogs, and Watch Dogs had been funded by Hive and Gideon Malick; it served to think that it was Grant Ward who had told Malick about the tracker implanted in Lincoln after his capture a little over a year and few months ago. He was more than likely the one to activate it too before sending the Watch Dogs on their first militant raid as HYDRA instead of as Watch Dogs.

“You know them?” Matt did not glance back as they ascended to the rooftop and he helped pull her up.

“Yeah,” she shook her head, “ran into them a couple of times. Anti-powered people or anyone with unique gifts. Probably would hate you too.”

“Because I'm so lovable,” he replied sarcastically.

“With that getup, sure,” she shook her head, “and beating people to a pulp. The horns are a bit much....”

“Everyone's a critic,” he groused, but softened it with the familiar half-smile she knew was just for her, “it's called percussive therapy.”

“Some therapy,” she retorted, giving him a tight grin before he took off at a run towards the other side of the rooftop. She was hard pressed to keep up with him as he vaulted across, his acrobatic talents in full use as she followed as best as she could. She stumbled at some points, but managed to not fall too far behind. A part of her knew that he was just showing off now, but she took it for what it was and allowed herself to admire the view – not only from the rooftop parkour they were doing, but also the fact that he looked sleek and rather hot with his acrobatics. But that was as far as she allowed her thoughts to go, the grief of losing Lincoln still too raw for her to consider anything else, along with the fact that when she really thought about it, Matt was like a brother to her. Though she supposed that perhaps if she was akin to his sister, it _was_ her obligation to tease him.

They stopped after crossing a few blocks on the roofs and Daisy could feel her muscles sing in ways she never knew that they could with all of the parkour Matt had put her through. She tried to keep her breathing even as she pulled up behind him and saw him hold out an absent hand for her to be as quiet as possible. All thoughts of teasing him for the great view he had provided for her flitted out of her head as she crouched and slowly approached.

She peered over the lip of the rooftop. There were at least three men with assault rifles that looked like modified FN-P90s patrolling a garage of sorts.

“Nine more inside, two on the top floor with another who has a deep heartbeat,” Matt muttered quietly, “Four are on the second floor, five on the third floor.”

“Inhuman?” she asked and he tilted his head briefly before nodding.

“I think so, the heart beat sounds like yours,” he replied.

“Modded FN-P90s mean that they mean business,” she looked at the three gun-toting mercenaries, noting their patterns and walk. “Ex-military, probably Watch Dogs,” she said before giving her friend a sideways look, “ _this_ was supposed to be a simple recon?”

“Just following a rumor trail left by our mutual friend,” his protest sounded lame and Daisy rolled her eyes as he too gave her a faint smile at his poor excuse.

“Quick and quiet?” she asked and saw him look at her, surprise evident by the slight dropping of his jaw. “What?” she shook her head and gestured with a hand towards the soldiers below, “you're injured-”

“Daisy-”

“I said quick and quiet, not telling you to _not_ go beat these sons of bitches up,” she shrugged before adding in a quieter tone, “and it's kind of percussive therapy for me...”

“Uh huh...” she could feel his skeptical stare behind the semi-opaque blood-red eyes.

“You're injured, so quick and quiet and you don't _have_ to be even more injured and I don't have to try to call Night Nurse-”

“She's actually not...here...left after, well...after shit started to go down with Nobu,” he interrupted, his lips pressed into a thin line before he looked back out over the rooftop.

“Oh,” Daisy refused to apologize for his loss, knowing that it was probably better for Night Nurse, or whomever she was, to not be caught up in whatever scheme Nobu had going. She had a feeling that it had ended with the death of the woman that Matt loved.

“Quick and quiet,” he breathed out before nodding once in affirmation of her plan, “you wanna pick your floor?”

“Third,” she quickly whispered and saw him give her an arching look, his expression evident even with the cowl over the top half of his face. “Percussive therapy and playground bullies Matt Murdock.”

“Don't call me that-”

“Fine, Daredevil,” she grimaced, “sounds weird...meh, calling you Red.”

That elicited an unexpected bark of quiet laughter from Matt and she raised an eyebrow at him. “Had a fellow...acquaintance is probably the best word for it, call me Red the whole time we were trying to stop each other.”

“Acquaintance,” she could hear that there was more than likely a long story behind it before she pursed her lips. A thought occurred to her, “wait...no...the Punisher?”

Her answer seemed to have surprised him as he nodded.

“Matt Murdock taking the case of the Punisher to the trial just as the headlines say that Daredevil was seen fighting the Punisher. Not too hard to put together someone probably as tough as the Punisher giving you that kind of nickname instead of the one the presses call you, Daredevil,” she said and he gave her another tight smile, “so then, shall we, Red?”

“After you, Earthquake,” he replied and she gave him a dirty look.

“It's Tremors...though...I guess Quake might work, I suppose,” she tested the name out in her mind and it sounded kind of cool – at least the still-childish part of her thought. It was better than being called Tremors since that reminded her too much of Mack and what she had done to him. She still could not believe that he had forgiven her so easily.

“Quake then,” Matt's voice pulled her out of her sudden dark thoughts and she nodded, focusing herself at the task at hand. She was going to atone for her sins, not let someone else do it for her, and the Inhuman that was in the Watch Dogs' clutches was a start.

 


	3. Chapter 3

They stealthily entered through the back of the garage after Daisy managed to hack into the key-card entry system with her cellphone's hacking modules. Judging by the worn sign outside, she supposed that this was a local business with administrative levels on the second through fourth floor. The garage itself was rather large, with three doors and there were large mechanical parts that indicated it was both a warehouse for supplies and for repair.

Matt had found a chain spooled on the ground floor and had immediately taken it, wrapping part of it on one of his wrists like a crude extended brass knuckle of sorts. She had only stared at him before he answered with a quick wolfish smile and nothing else. It was a good way to use a long-range weapon since he was still injured, she supposed they parted ways on the stairwell to the second floor.

She continued to climb up and halfway up the stairs, heard the distinct shout of voices filtering from the second floor as Matt launched his attack. Daisy smiled tightly to herself as she took the rest of the stairs in twos and unceremoniously blasted the door off of its hinges with a burst of power from her hands. The metal door crumpled a little under the force of her earthquake-inducing powers as it tumbled end over end into the room. To her grim delight, she saw one hapless militiaman take the tumbling door full in the face, crumpling to the ground. But all of that was pushed to the side as she used the momentum generated from her opening attack to blast another into a wall, rendering him unconscious with a crack against a nearby pillar.

She twisted swept her leg underneath another as she charged forward, ducking by the firing of bullets past her head and elbowed the one she had dropped in the neck, making him choke and splutter. Daisy rolled to her feet and lashed out with several punches, encountering hard-plate armor before she pulled the soldier close to her as she felt the faint vibration of several bullets impact the militiaman's kevlar armor.

The man grunted before trying to get a grip on her, but she only flashed him a sardonic smile and grabbed his wrists, pulling one towards her against the grain of his arm and broke it. His howl of pain was abruptly cut off as she grabbed his body and slammed him into the ground, knocking him out.

Daisy only had a hairsbreadth of warning before she was suddenly sent forward, slamming into the ground as something small and hard knocked into her. Stars exploded in her vision as she heard the triumphant grunt of a female voice above her. “Gotcha you bitch.”

She tried to roll the weight of the militiaman off of her, but the woman would not budge. Instead, she grunted in pain as she felt her head slam into the floor again, her breath leaving her a little stunned. She was starting to become angry at what the woman was doing to her.

“How ya like that, bitch?! You're all the fucking same, just fucking aliens we don't need in this world-”

Daisy tried a different tactic as she let her growing anger fuel her and slammed her palms against the ground. She fired off a blast of her powers and forcibly launched herself into the air. The militiaman shouted, startled at her sudden move before Daisy rolled backwards to her feet and grabbed onto the woman's collar. She unceremoniously slammed her face into the ground, stunning her in a choking gasp.

“Turnabout's fair play, asshole,” she retorted as she slammed the woman's head against the concrete ground again, eliciting another choking gasp.

Anger surged through Daisy as she glared at the woman's rolling eyes. It was people like these that had killed Lincoln, people like these that enabled HYDRA to manipulate them and for Hive to come in and do what he did. People like this woman who was _nothing_ who didn't know what the hell was it to be Inhuman, to be different, to understand them that beget prejudice and the idiocy of having SHIELD hidden behind the ATCU. They were the _good guys_ and it was assholes and fuckers like these that allowed bad things to happen! Lincoln did not deserve to _die!_

A wild shout of fury emerged from her lips as she slammed the woman's head to the ground one last time, her breath coming in gasps as she stared at the bloody imprint that was slowly pooling around the woman's head. The red haze that had inexplicably fallen across her vision slowly melted away and Daisy blinked, starting a little as she swayed. She blinked several times before staring down at the bloodied face of the woman, horror replacing the furious anger that had surged in her at what she had just done.

“Oh my God, oh my God...” Daisy stuttered as she shakily reached out-

“She's still alive, Daisy,” Matt's rough, but gentle voice made her start a little as she turned to see him standing behind her, having come up the stairs. The chain he had taken and wrapped around one of his wrists was a little shiny with blood, and as he took a step forward towards her, she noticed that he was favoring his side again.

“I...I...” Daisy blinked, shock quickly filling her as she stared back and forth between him and the female militiaman on the ground. She had lost control...total and utter control. The last time she had done that... She shuddered, feeling her body twitch in reaction. It had felt so _good_ , so eerily like the high she had gotten from Hive when she had vented her rage on the woman. And it made her feel so guilty at the same time.

“She's alive,” Matt stated again and she focused on him to see him give her a small nod. There was compassion and understanding behind that nod, she could clearly see that, and realized that Matt had been where she had been. Unstoppable rage that felt utterly drunk with a violence that could barely be tamed.

“O-Okay...” she whispered as she shakily pushed herself off of the ground and stood up. She took several deep breaths, closing her eyes briefly before opening them again. It was not her center, not by a long stretch, but she felt a little bit calmer. She gave Matt a watery smile, “Some percussive therapy...right?”

He snorted quietly, the corner of his bloodied lips twitching upwards, “I took care of the others outside also.”

“Yeah,” Daisy exhaled, the adrenaline rush of rage that she had felt slowly leaving her as she headed towards where the Inhuman at the far end of the room was sitting quietly. The Inhuman captive looked no more older than a teenager, judging by the clothing and the fact that the body was slight and the captive's feet barely touched the floor.

“H-Hello?”

She froze, eyes widening at the words that had emerged from the captive's lips. She _knew_ the captive.

“Kamala?” Daisy whispered as she hurried the last few steps and pulled the burlap bag off of the girl's head. “But...” it was indeed the former orphan she had met last year named Kamala who had been adopted by the Khan family after she had been force-fed a fish oil pill that had Terrigenesis crystals in it. Lincoln had placed her with the Khans, claiming that they knew about the Inhumans and knew how to care for newly turned ones.

“Daisy!” Kamala's smile was one of relief, but that was not what had stopped Daisy short. Bruises, horrific ones along with signs of dried blood painted an awful picture across her youthful features. Some were reddish and purple while others yellowed against the olive skin she had. Her hair was matted and covered in a shiny substance she instinctively knew was blood. But the odd thing was that there did not look like there was a single scratch on her save for the obvious tears of clothing and fabric.

“Hi Daredevil!” Kamala chirped, glancing behind her and Daisy turned to see Matt with a frown on his face. She knew instantly that he was trying to figure out what she had visually seen.

“Are you-” Daisy cut short the obvious question she was about to ask and instead, knelt next to the bound girl and tentatively touched her shoulder. Kamala winced a little and her smile faltered before she shook her head.

“I'm better...” the girl was trying to sound brave, and Daisy could not help but muster up the courage to give her a smile of reassurance as she gently untied her. “I'm really hungry though...”

“What-” she grimaced and stopped herself again as she realized she could not ask someone as young as Kamala as to what happened. No one that young should be forced to tell about the obvious trauma endured. Kamala would speak when she was ready, if she ever was. But judging by the brave front, the obvious relief, the chirpiness in her tone...

“It's...my fault...” Kamala's voice dropped to a near-whisper and Daisy paused, staring up at the young girl's face as her smile wavered before she sniffled, her bravado crumbling quickly. It was also then that Daisy saw one of the purplish bruises she had splashed across her chin slowly turn yellow.

“Kamala...”

“See?” she poked the once-purple bruise with her fingers, “it doesn't hurt too much anymore...”

“B-But- What-?”

“I heal, quickly,” Kamala explained as she fidgeted, her hands curled in front of her, “Mom discovered it first when I cut myself by accident back during one of the nights of Ramadan.”

Daisy flicked a look at Matt who nodded as he tilted his head a little, seemingly studying her as he stood back from them. She surmised that her friend was able to literally hear the knitting of bones and bruises and briefly wondered what did it sound like. She knew that to him, fractures sounded like sandpaper rubbing across rough surfaces, so what did knitting bones sound like?

“It's not your fault-”

“I can also embiggen my hands and feet,” Kamala sounded a little more excited and splayed her hands and feet out. Not even a second later, she saw them seemingly grow a little before they shrunk back down to regular size. At the same time Kamala grimaced and rubbed her stomach. “I'm hungry though...Lincoln said it was a side effect of my powers when he came over during the winter holidays.”

She fell silent for a moment before rubbing at one eye and mumbled something that Daisy did not quite catch, but it seemed like Matt did as concern morphed across his features and a frown appeared on his face. “Kamala?” she prompted.

“I...thought I could be like you...you know...kicking the bad guys' butts and everything. I mean, even like Daredevil... Lincoln...Lincoln said that he was part of SHIELD when he came to visit and that was so cool. He said he joined because of you and I wanted to do that. I want to join SHIELD and help others...”

Whatever remnant anger Daisy had, fled from her words as the wave of guilt, of sorrow, of what had happened to Lincoln, to herself under Hive's control, everything came crashing down on her as she stared at Kamala, stunned. She had caused Kamala to do this...her actions towards Petrov underneath Terminal 5 had caused this. Kamala had thought it was cool to join SHIELD, to be like Lincoln, and somehow it had convinced the young impressionable girl to become a vigilante. To try super heroics and land herself in this predicament. The Watch Dog members had hurt her and if she and Matt had not been here tonight- Daisy did not want to finish that thought as she was at a loss for words.

“Your parents must be worried,” it was Matt who answered for her, his voice quiet with understanding, “come on, let's get you home so you can get a big dinner, all right?”

“Okay...” the girl hopped off of the chair and took Matt's outstretched hand. The two started to walk away and Daisy slowly followed, her thoughts a whirl in her head. The guilt she felt was stifling, and seeing Kamala hurt to this point just because she had inadvertently encouraged her to use her powers for the good of people, made it even worse. Daisy could only follow in silence as they made their way out of the garage and headed back to where the Khans lived.

* * *

It had been an unspoken agreement that Daisy would be the one to bring Kamala all the way home since Matt was still injured. Taking a cab or any type of public transportation was out of the question due to the fact that Kamala looked like a mess and they did not want to attract any unnecessary attention; not with the passage of the Vienna Accords, nor with the fact that Daisy did not want to give Coulson or any of her former teammates any leads on where she was at the moment. So she walked, carrying Kamala in her arms since she fell asleep from exhaustion a little bit into their trek back to her home. When Daisy and Matt had parted ways, she could see the question in her friend's sightless gaze as to whether or not she was going to come back to his place or leave after what happened. They both knew that whatever she carried in the backpack left at his place was useless trinkets, clothing, even identification. They could be easily discarded and left behind if she really wanted to just flee. Even she did not know if she was going to return, but she put it out of her mind and didn't give him an answer. Instead, she focused on her task to return Kamala home.

Kamala's adopted brother, Aamir had greeted her at the front door before shouting for his parents as the young girl awakened with a start in Daisy's arms. Mr. and Mrs. Khan had immediately taken their girl in where Mrs. Khan started to fuss over her before shuffling her off to the kitchen to eat. The family had seen her fading bruises and instantly knew what had happened. Kamala had been a bit unhappy with the fussing and Daisy could only surmise that she had kept the secret of her vigilante activities from her family. But she supposed it was better that she was busted than dead as she declined an invitation from Mr. Khan to come in. Aamir had lingered in the doorway, looking around her.

“Is Lincoln with you?” Aamir asked and Daisy blinked before realizing that Kamala's older brother was probably friends with Lincoln. He looked a few years younger than her.

“He...” Daisy's mouth opened and shut wordlessly before she shook her head. “No...he...” She bit her lip, the guilt threatening to overwhelm her again before she caught an understanding look on Aamir's face.

“Oh...” he gave her a sad smile, “I understand...”

“She doesn't know,” Daisy blurted out, “don't...don't tell her...yet, okay?”

“I'm sorry,” Aamir shook his head, “I will say a prayer to Allah for his soul. He...he was a good man. Troubled, but a good man. He helped me through my transition before I left Lai Xi. He talked a lot about you the last time he was here and I know he had found a good person to be with, someone to guide him through the dark time he was having.”

“...Yeah...” it was the only thing she could say.

“Are you sure you won't come in?” the other man asked and she shook her head mutely.

“No...I'm...I'm staying with a friend for now...just....need to get my bearings before...” she trailed off as she realized she did not know what to do now. She had only gone to Matt's place because it was a place she knew she could have some solitude, some semblance of peace from what had happened. Now...she did not know what she wanted to do. “Thanks though,” she quickly finished as she gave him what she hoped was a sincere smile. Not even a second later, she turned on her heel and fled back into the inky night.

 


	4. Chapter 4

There was a moment of hesitation as Daisy placed a hand on the doorknob to Matt's apartment and twisted it. To her mild surprise, it was unlocked, but she dared not push the door open – not yet. She could feel the faint vibrations of Matt in the apartment itself, apparently a solid figure that seemed hunched over something. She had a feeling that her friend could hear her outside, but did not open the door like he had earlier in the day to let her in. Gratitude washed over her at what he was doing – letting her decide whether or not she was going to step through the threshold. And with that, she stepped in, pushing the door open and letting it close behind her.

The guilt she had felt after fleeing from the Khans still ate at her, but the long walk back had given her time to think. She did not know what to make of her still-swirling thoughts, but she knew that she at least had to say her goodbyes to Matt before she left. She did not know where she was going to go, but they both knew that Matt had given her the best help he could without burdening the two of them. She knew she could have easily fled, leaving everything behind, but she was not that cruel, not that jaded to push away everything and start anew. Matt was...family; maybe the only one she had left after what had happened with SHIELD and the whole Hive fiasco. She did not owe it to him, but she did feel a sense of responsibility and wanted at least a friendly face around before her next move – someone who understood her; who made no judgments about who she was and readily accepted her for all of her faults, both human and Inhuman. That was Matt.

She rounded the corner from the hallway and paused at the sight that greeted her. A rueful smile appeared on her face as she shook her head at the sight of Matt perched on one of the chairs of his small dining table stitching his arm up. He had changed out of his outfit and was wearing his usual casual ensemble of sweatpants and tee-shirt. And it looked like while her friend was successful in stitching parts of himself up, he most definitely missed one large gash on his shoulder, considering that he was favoring that same arm and stitching up a smaller gash on his forearm.

“Need help?” she asked as she walked over and sat down on the other chair. She rifled through his medical kit, noting that the bag was stuffed to the gills with a lot of hospital-grade medical supplies and sterile gauze, pads, bandages, needles, and threading. “This from your friend?” she asked, wondering if the woman who called herself Night Nurse had come back from wherever she had left to.

“Sort of,” Matt's sightless eyes were concentrated on the needle and thread and she knew that he was using his special gift to stitch himself back up. “Karen left it on my doorstep a few weeks ago.”

“Karen?” Daisy's eyebrows rose, “wait...she knows?”

“Told her after you left the last time you were here,” he sounded non-committal and Daisy could hear a clear warning for her not to ask anymore regarding Karen and nodded. There was history there and something else. And she respected that. If Matt didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't push.

“Foggy?” she asked instead and he snorted quietly, his face pulling into a grimace of sorts that Daisy immediately picked up on. “Sorry...bad question...” she apologized and saw him nod his head once. It certainly explained why Nelson and Murdock was finished as well as why Matt was so hostile when she had last visited during the winter holidays. Not only had he been dealing with the loss of his love, he must have also had a huge falling out with Foggy; and she suspected it was because Foggy had known or had found out Matt was Daredevil. When and how piqued her curiosity, but the fact that Matt did not feel inclined to talk anymore about it made her respect that distance.

She breathed out a quiet sigh before rifling through the duffel bag and pulled out a fresh pair of stitching needles and some latex gloves. Shucking her combat gloves off, and putting on the latex ones,she grabbed the spool of stitching thread Matt had been using and gestured for Matt to turn his back towards her so she could check the gash on his shoulder.

“Were you going to try to stitch your shoulder?” she asked as she pulled down his collar a little, careful of the work he was doing on the same arm.

“If I could see, yeah. Mirrors don't work that well,” he looked like he was about to shrug, but thought better of it. “But probably not. Bandages.”

“Would be another scar for the ladies,” she quipped in and off-hand manner and heard his soft huff of laughter. She pulled what she hoped was the right amount of thread for the gash and started to work.

“Ow,” there was genuine pain in Matt's flat tone as she worked and she grimaced.

“Sorry, not a field medic,” she grimaced, “I'm better at beating people up than stitching them. I only got the bare minimum training from Simmons after I was cleared for field work.”

“Then don't _ever_ become a medic,” Matt hissed through his teeth, though Daisy heard the tiny bit of humorous teasing as she quickly sewed up the wound. She put the last stitch through and cut the thread, wincing a little at her handiwork. The stitching looked rather atrocious and she knew that it would leave a scar of sorts.

“Okay, done,” she announced, taking off her gloves and throwing out the used needle and thread.

“It's gonna leave a scar, isn't it?” she tried to suppress a grimacing smile, but in the end gave up to the slight put-out tone in her friend's voice. He sounded so like a kid who's candy had been taken away and she nodded.

“Yeah...sorry,” she apologized, “one for the ladies?”

His only response was an eye roll before he finished the last of his own stitching on his arm and cut the thread. He turned to face her around the table as he threw away the used needle and thread. She saw his nose flare a little before he reached out towards her head, “You've got a cut, kind of deep, but the blood's crusted. Above your ear, towards your temple-”

Daisy hissed a little in the sudden pain that she felt when she encountered the raw skin and puckering flesh that was definitely crusted with dried blood. She felt along the tender edges and to her relief, the cut wasn't long, but it still hurt. The adrenaline must have made her numb to the pain and it was only sitting here after the fight, after fleeing from the Khans that her wounds were starting to make themselves known. Truth be told, she also was feeling achy all over and her head was pounding. The repeated blows she had gotten from that female Watch Dog member was definitely making her head hurt.

She tilted her head towards Matt, letting the loose strands of her hair fall across her eyes, “Need stitches? Can't tell.”

She felt his hand gently moving over her head wound and involuntarily winced as his fingers came in contact with the raw skin. “No, just a couple of butterflies, but you'd probably want to get the blood out first. Clean kitchen towels on the left-most drawer.”

“Yeah,” Daisy stood up and went over to the open kitchen before finding a clean towel and running part of it over the kitchen sink before returning and sat down, scrubbing her hair and the surrounding area gently. She could smell the coppery-tang of blood being absorbed onto the towel as she scrubbed. After a few minutes she felt she had gotten all of the blood in the area and set the towel onto the table. She frowned at the sheer amount of red that was on the towel.

“You okay?” Matt asked, his voice quiet as the disquieting sensation of what had happened, what had brought her here and what she had done and felt started to rise up in her again.

“...No,” she admitted, her voice suddenly hoarse as she choked back the wave of emotions, the despair and anger she was feeling. “Goddammit, if we hadn't been there tonight...Kamala....” she trailed off as she curled one of her hands into a fist, furious anger filling her as she stared at the bloodied towel.

She had so much blood on her hands, so much guilt for what had happened. If she had only done _something_ sooner, then Lincoln could have survived. He would be alive and none of this would have happened. The Secret Warriors wouldn't be broken, Coulson would not have taken such drastic measures. Even Dr. Garner, or rather Lash, would not be dead and she would not have seen May's attempts to shield herself from the grief. It was her fault, her fault for allowing her own hubris for the mission to make herself fall under Hive's sway. And her fault for not being strong enough to resist, to not go crawling back to Hive only to find out that she now was immune. It _hurt_ and it made her so angry that others were taking reckless steps to be like her. She wasn't a hero; she didn't deserve to be the hero Kamala wanted her to be. She could not be the daughter that Coulson wanted her to be, the role model and the ideal that she had long knew he hoped her to be.

Daisy didn't realize her hands were trembling until one of Matt's calloused palms covered her own and she started from her dark, angry thoughts. She blinked, staring dumbly at their hands. She had always been acutely aware of the vibration that Matt produced, the unique feel of his strong muscles and the languid acrobatically graceful way he moved. It seemed more heightened whenever he was in his Daredevil costume, the vibration and feel of leather a soothing constant. But for some odd reason, she now focused on the vibration of his hand on her own, the feel of his calloused palms, his rough skin and weathered fingertips; his scratched nails that seemingly bumped from years of punching, years of training, and years of reading Braille that they had a faint imprint on them from the repeated tiny bumps.

These were hands that took matters in their own.

These were hands that never backed down, never gave up, and gave pain, but also gave hope.

“I'm going to fight...” Daisy did not realize she had spoken the words out loud until Matt's fingers shifted a little, breaking the spell. She blinked again and looked up at him, seeing his sightless eyes not quite staring at her, but knew that he was looking at her. There was a neutral expression on his face, neither judging nor condemning her. “I am going to fight,” she said again, hearing the vibration of her own voice, the conviction that was behind it and for the first time since she had been freed from Hive's control, it felt _right_.

Hive had made her feel like it had taken away everything from her – and to her, he had. He had taken and destroyed her family, destroyed SHIELD from within by causing a rift between those who weren't Inhuman and had powers versus those who had. But she was going to make up for that. She would prove to the world, to Coulson, and to her former family that entities like Hive would never win.

She would prove to Kamala and others like her that she was never a victim, but rather a survivor. She would prove to the Watch Dogs that their bigotry would not stand in the face of what she was, that she was different and embraced the difference. She was Daisy Johnson, Inhuman, ex-SHIELD agent, and now, vigilante. And it felt right.

“Thank you, Daredevil,” she turned her hand over so that their palms were pressed against each other. She pulsed out a very faint, almost unnoticed vibration of her powers against his palm and knew that he had clearly felt it with his own enhanced senses. She was rewarded with a faint smile and a nod of approval as he understood her intentions.

“You are welcomed any time here, Quake,” he replied and she smiled at his use of her new code name. She had many mistakes to atone for and she knew where to start first – Charles Hinton had a son named Robin and she promised him that he would be safe. No one else would die on her watch, not while she had the power to change it.

 

~END~

 


End file.
